The Business Coach with Laura Murphy: Cold calling scares me

Question: “I’m keen to grow the business but finding it difficult to face the anxiety of rejection when making cold calls. How can I get around that?” Debbie

Answer: “It takes a confident person to be comfortable with cold calling. They know that any rejection is not personal to them so they don’t get anxious. That’s easier said than done when you’re pinning a lot of emotion onto the call.

First, distance yourself from the emotion. Construct a phone script to give you a framework of what to say about your company and what’s being offered depending upon the responses you get, and keep it positive. So for example if they say, ‘We have someone we always use’ say, ‘Great, I’d hope our existing clients are just as loyal but if you ever consider changing then you know we’re here’.

Then reframe what will be a successful outcome. It’s well known that there’s a very low percentage of conversion from cold call to warm lead so when you find the ones who don’t want the services, that’s a success because it releases time and energy to focus on the ones who do. There will be other success measures you can determine for yourself.

Now set yourself a realistic target of calls to make per day or week. Praise generates confidence so remember to praise yourself when you hit your target. Pick a time to call when you know you are usually at your most resourceful. Picture in your mind what a successful conversation looks, sounds, feels like and repeatedly rehearse that. Then off you go!”

Laura is an organisation development specialist and executive coach with mtc2 ltd and was Highly Commended in the Eastbourne Business Awards Business Person of the Year. To solve your problem email laura@mtc2.co.uk Tweet @WayfinderWoman Names and details have been changed to protect confidentiality.